


The One Person I Can Turn To

by XxFandomTrashxX



Category: Far Cry (Video Games), Far Cry 5
Genre: AU, AU established in chapter 5, Age Difference, Alcohol, Anal Sex, Angst, Blow Jobs, Bonding, Bonding over burning angels, Drunk Sex, Dubious Consent, Fluff, Fluffly and Happy Ending, Friends to Lovers, Killing, M/M, No Nuclear Ending, Rape, Smut, Suicidal Thoughts, Suicidal actions, Two Endings, Violence, and a Sad and Angsty Ending, i never thought I’d write a sentence like that, suicidal character, supportive friends
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-28
Updated: 2019-03-10
Packaged: 2019-09-29 00:44:29
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 25
Words: 16,285
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17193287
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/XxFandomTrashxX/pseuds/XxFandomTrashxX
Summary: Doesn’t it suck to fall in love with your best friend? Yeah, it does, especially when they show no signs of love towards anyone.~~~~~~I don’t even know with this summary ._.I really ship these two, and there aren’t many Far Cry 5 fanfics on this ship (or in general :/) so hop on the fanon cruise ship, here we take a hard right and look at a relatively new game I played and beat before writing this shit! (Unlike D:BH)





	1. Chapter 1

.

Sharky knew he liked the deputy the moment he agreed to help him burn Angels with him. He didn’t know he loved him until he jumped infront of a fucking knife for him though.

~~~~~

 It started off like any other day, waking up, drinking beer with your best bud, and then heading out to kill some peggies.

 “I feel bad for those cultists...” Sharky sighed, staring out the window of the Widow Maker.

 Dusty turned his head , quickly glancing at him, “Hm.. Why..?”

 “Isn’t it against Joseph’s rules to get laid? Wouldn’t that suck?” He asked, looking back at the deputy.

 “Mm... yeah, for most people... but isn’t it hard to do right now without being a peggie? Y’know, having one eye open to make sure no one tries to force you to believe something you don’t believe?”

 Sharky narrowed his eyes, “Yeah, but you could always... I don’t know... stay in one of those fancy bunkers Dutch and Eli have...”

 “True, but it’s hard to find one that doesn’t already have someone occupying it...” Dusty countered.

 Sharky sighed and faced the window, it was sprinkling outside, watching the rain drops hit the surrounding and hearing others hit the roof was calming, like knowing you have a friend that can defend themself, and if need be, you, is comforting. 

 Before he knew it, they were at John Seed’s Cabin, maybe not the best day to try an liberate a place like this, but it still hat to be done. Dusty helped Boomer out of the car while Sharky loaded his shot gun. They snuck up on most of the cultists, snapping their necks or stabbing them in the jugular. 

 Everything was going fine until someone spotted Sharky, “THE SINNERS ARE HERE!” The cultist shouted, lunging at the pyromaniac.

 “SHIT!” He yelled as he was pushed down by the deputy, who was stabbed in the shoulder by the cultist. The deputy acknowledged this, but ignored it. Running purely off of adrenaline, the twenty year old pushed the cultist to the ground, straddling his waist and pulling out his knife, he then proceeded to plunge it into the mans head, quickly switching to his hand pistol after the man below him stopped struggling. “DUDE, ARE YOU ALRIGHT?!” Sharky whisper-yelled as they hid behind a bush. 

 Dusty pulled the blade out slowly, pain starting to seep in, “Yeah, nothing I can’t handle...” Dusty was fucking amazing, no one Sharky knew would get stabbed for him, much less act so calm about it.

 Some gunshots were fired, a few thuds in the distance were heard, then they heard footsteps approaching. Sharky got his weapon prepared while Dusty tried to stop his wound from bleeding. Sharky stood up, pointing his gun at the person a few feet from him.

 “Hey, hey, lower your weapon, I’m Pastor Jerome...!”

 “Why are you here?” Sharky asked, gun still pointed at the Pastor.

 Dusty lightly knocked Sharky’s leg, “Lower the gun, he’s one of my friends...” and with that, Sharky put the gun away and bent down to pick Dusty up. The Pastor noticed the gaping wound in the deputy’s shoulder and the dark blush on his face when he came into view.

 “Oh my... are you okay, Dep..?” He asked.

 “Yeah, I’m fine... just need to clean it up and dress it...” 

 Sharky set the younger man on one of the cultist’s truck beds and headed back to the Widow Maker to get the first aid kit from the back.

 “Uh... I was wondering if you were okay, I was in the area when I heard the Peggies freaking out about someone on the radio, I knew it had to be you, but I didn’t know if you would be okay, especially when I heard them say that they’d almost captured the ‘sinners’... I’m just glad you’re okay...”

 “Hah... yeah... thank you for coming when you did, the only people left were the  snipers, I’m sure Sharky and I would be dead if you didn’t come when you did... I mean... you know what I do to protect my friends...” a faint blush dusted the deputy’s freckled cheeks.

 They both chuckled, Dusty awkwardly rubbing the back of his head. “Well, good to know you’re alright, I hope I’ll see you in Fall’s End again soon,” Jerome said, noting Sharky hurrying back. 

 “See ya’!” Dusty said with a smile as the pastor started making his way back to his car.

 Sharky set the first aid kit on the truck bed, quickly digging through it to find the anticeptic, a needle, some thread, and bandages. He set them to the side and started unbuttoning Dusty’s flannel shirt. Dusty grabbed his hands and stopped him from going below the second button, Sharky looked up into the younger man’s eyes, “I-I can handle it myself...” Dusty said, smiling reassuringly. 

 “Are you sure? I could help, it’d be a lot faster and I’d make sure it didn’t hurt. I swear...” Sharky said, voice telling Dusty he was extremely worried about this.

 Dusty nodded, “Wait for me in the Widow Maker,” he said softly. 

 Sharky slowly pulled his hands away, then motioned for Boomer to follow him as he walked back to the semi, both sitting in the passenger’s seat, he stared out of the window at the sunset while he waited for his partner in crime to come, thinking about what transpired today.


	2. Chapter 2

  The next few weeks were normal, killing Peggies and Angels, liberating outposts, helping citizens, you know, normal stuff that we all do. Over the span of this time, they got a lot closer, and Sharky was sure of his feelings.

 Dusty never complained about how much Sharky liked to talk, or the awkward conversations they had, he never judged Sharky, he helped him whenever he needed it, and was just an all around good person, a killing machine, but none the less, a good person.

 Most of the people that knew about Dusty spoke horribly of him, thinking he was heartless and never spared lives, but that was very untrue, if the people fled, he never went after them, didn’t even shoot at them, if the people pled for their lives, he helped them up and told them to leave before he changed his mind. No matter who he was with, he always showed love and kindness. Though Sharky and he never parted, he’d change who came with him from time to time, varying from Peaches to Jess, Sharky thought it depended on his mood or the area they were in. But in any case, Dusty was very lovable, nice, cool, and fucking indestructible, no matter how many times he was stabbed, shot, burnt, starved, etc., he kept fighting for the freedom of the people of Hope County. 

 Sharky idolized him, loved him even, but one weird thing is that he never seemed to react when people would flirt with him, they’d be chatting him up, and he’d reply to everything as though it was a normal conversation, not a conversation to get him in bed. It was odd, but Sharky was happy he didn’t do that with the men and women that would come for one night, maybe, and then leave the next morning. One thing he could say for sure is that if he ever had the balls to tell Dusty, he wouldn’t-

 “Sharky..? Sharky!” Grace shouted, her, Jess, Hurk, and Dusty stared at him. 

 “Hm..?” He asked, taking a swig of his beer.

 “Fuck, Marry, Kill...” Jess started, “Hmm.. Grace... Mary... and, uh... Dusty!” She finally spit out.

 They were all drunk, this question would either get remembered forever but never spoken about, forgotten, get him closer to Dusty, or fuck his relationship with Dusty. Well fuck, there’s no way out of this one...

 “Mmm...” he started, pretending to think about his answer, “Kill Mary.... Fuck Grace.... and Marry Dusty...?” He made it sound like a question to add to the illusion.

 “Oooo” Hurk, Jess, and Grace whispered amongst each other.

 Dusty took another shot of whisky and shoved his face in his hands, face burning.

 Sharky’s face was red as well, but he played it off as being hot. He might’ve been drunk, but no way in hell was he giving anything up. 

—————

 An hour or two later, they went back to their rooms, Hurk and Sharky were supposed to be sharing a room, but Hurk locked him out, saying he had a lady friend with him. Sharky was embarrassed to ask, but no way on God’s green earth was he asking to stay with the ladies, so he knocked on Dusty’s door. It took a few seconds, but the door opened and Dusty stood in the doorway, his flannel red and blue shirt was hanging in the closet next to where the door was, he had a grey t-shirt on that clung to his body in all the right places. Sharky stared for a moment, before forcing himself to talk, “U-Um... could I stay with you...? Hurk locked me out...” he asked shyly.

 Dusty smiled warmly, moving away and inviting him inside. Sharky walked in, taking his shoes off once he closed the door. He turned around and walked into the living/bedroom, “You can sleep on the bed with me...” Dusty said softly.

 Sharky nodded and sat on the bed, taking his sweatshirt off. He moved to lay on the bed, it was to hot to be under the blankets, so he chilled on top of them. He closed his eyes for a few seconds, and when he opened them back up, his mouth went dry. He watched as the twenty year old took his pants off, his boxers were black, and left nothing to the imagination, Dusty walked to the other side of the bed and slid in, giving Sharky a good look at the front, the bulge was a decent size, Sharky might’ve been taller, but what Dusty lacked in height, he made up for in size. Sharky was visibly hard, and it was painful against his jeans, but Dusty was letting him stay with him, and ontop of that, he was letting him sleep in the same bed as him, despite what was said earlier, no way he was risking it, he could deal with the discomfort until Dusty fell asleep.

 Luckily for Sharky, Dusty fell asleep about thirty minutes after laying down. When Sharky thought Dusty was completely out, he pulled his jeans off and boxers down, he quietly set the jeans on the floor next to him. He wrapped his hand around his dick and started pumping, the only noise in the room being him panting, he closed his eyes and lied his head back, about a minute after doing so, he felt movement in the bed and a hand on his thigh, rubbing small circles on it. He jumped slightly and looked down, almost giving himself whiplash with the speed at which he moved. 

 “Y’know... you could’ve just woken me up... right..?” Dusty yawned, pushing Sharky’s hand away and replacing it with his own, he moved his head to rest on the older man’s stomach. 

 Sharky was speechless, which was odd for him, but understandable in such circumstances. Dusty moved between Sharky’s legs so he could watch him. He wrapped his lips around the head of Sharky’s dick, dipping his tongue in the slit and sucking on it. This made the man above him gasp and tangle his fingers in Dusty’s dark grey hair. Dusty took more of him in, now bobbing his head in order to make it easier on himself. Sharky pulled on his hair, not enough to hurt, but just enough to send sparks of pleasure through the rookie. Dusty groaned, the noise causing a vibration on Sharky’s dick. Sharky pulled the younger man off, needing to regain his wits and a breath. Dusty whined, but rested his head on Sharky’s thigh. “Shit... you give good head...” Sharky panted out, causing Dusty to chuckle lightly. 

 “Glad ya’ like it...” he replied, tracing something on Sharky’s other leg. He moved up and straddled his friend’s lap bending down to connect their lips, he moaned slightly when Sharky bit his lower lip, Sharky took this opportunity to slip his tongue in. They fought for dominance, Dusty fought hard, but Sharky came out on top. They pulled away panting, with Dusty’s hands resting on Sharky’s clothes chest.

 Dusty stood and removed his pants, grabbing the lube out of his backpack before heading back over and straddling Sharky again. “You came prepared...” Sharky stated.

 “Well, y’never know when you’re gonna get to fuck your best friend,” Dusty quipped, making them both laugh.

 “Mhm, it’s good that ya’ have it though...” Sharky said, softly pumping Dusty’s cock. 

 Dusty put some lube in his hands, rubbing them together to warm it up before applying it to the other man’s dick, then working himself open, Dusty moved up a bit, and let Sharky take over, Sharky put two fingers in easily and started scissoring him. Dusty started groaning as he added a third. When Sharky felt he was ready, he pulled his fingers out and replaced it with his dick, letting Dusty take as much as he could. Surprisingly, Dusty sank all the way down, holding his breath until he was. He steadied his breathing before laying on Sharky, giving the control back to his friend. Sharky wrapped his arms around Dusty’s back, kissing him as he thrusted into him shallowly, slowly picking up the pace. Dusty was moaning into Sharky’s mouth, and Sharky liked it, but he’d rather have everyone in this damn place hear the supposed “Heartless killing machine” moaning his name. He pulled out and gently pushed Dusty off of him onto his back, and pulled him over to place his legs on his shoulders, then putting his dick back in to resume thrusting. 

 “S-SHARKY!!!” Dusty moaned as he hit his prostate head on, Sharky smiled and started slamming into him, hitting his prostate each time.

 “Mmm, you’re so fucking pretty for me, sugar...” Sharky said, flicking the head of Dusty’s cock with his finger, causing the rookie to whimper, “you love me fucking you, don’t ya’?” He asked.

 “Y-Yes, Daddy...!” Dusty choked out. The daddy part got Sharky, he liked that title. Dusty was sobbing at this point, he thought it was due to overstimulation, seeing that Sharky was fucking him and jerking him off. He was close, and he knew Sharky was close to, so he decided to finish it off, now that he knew the term ‘Daddy’ affected him, “P-please cum in me D-Daddy!” He said. Just as he thought, it sent Sharky over the edge, and feeling that warmth in him, tipped him over the edge as well.

 Sharky pulled out and lay beside him, resting his hand on Dusty’s chest. “You okay, baby..?” 

 Dusty huffed and turned over to lay his arm over Sharky’s chest, starting to catch his breath, “Better than okay,” he smiled slightly, gripping his partner’s shirt softly. They both drifted to sleep, more sober than when they started, but not sober enough to do much else.


	3. Chapter 3

 The pair woke up around eleven the next morning and took a shower together in order to conserve time. The words tattooed on Dusty’s back just made him hate John Seed more, Dusty wasn’t prideful, or lustful, maybe a little wrathful, but he has good reason, Sharky decided to ignore it for now and talk about it at a more appropriate time. They got out the door around 11:45, and said their goodbyes and got Boomer from Jess. Hurk and Sharky were talking while Dusty put his bag in the truck they were using, (since Jess needed the Widow Maker) and helped Boomer get in the back seat. 

 “Dude, you two were loud last night...” Hurk laughed.

 Grace and Jess walked over to the two cousins. “Yeah, I’m sure all of Fall’s End heard you two!” Grace said, trying to keep her composure, although still smiling.

 Sharky’s face was a dark red, Dusty walked over to him, noting the redness in his face and knowing how to make it worse. Jess looked over at Dusty as he approached, “Here’s the man of the hour!” She said happily.

 Dusty yawned, wrapping his arms around Sharky’s waist and shoving his head into his back, “C’mon, I’m tired and I wanna go home...” he mumbled.

 Dusty assumed correctly, he looked up to see that Sharky’s face was a darker shade of red, and the smiles on his friends faces had grown. “Well, we’ll leave ya’ alone so you can get back...” Grace said with a chuckle.

 “See ya’ later!” Hurk said, following Jess and Grace.

 “Cya...” Dusty said quietly, “Can we go now...?” He inquired.

 “Y-Yeah.... I-I’ll drive w-while you sleep...” Sharky finally said, after about a minute of silence. 

—————

 Sharky was drunk last night, but he didn’t have that bad of a hangover, unlike Dusty, but they still had a conversation, just a little quieter than Sharky was use to. “So... if ya’ want me to, I can work on the speakers tonight and we can burn some Angels in the mornin’...”

 Sharky glanced over at Dusty, “No, you need ta’ sleep, you drank a lot last night, drove all day, and fucking let me fuck ya’. I’ll work on the speaker tomorrow.”

 Dusty sighed quietly, “M’kay, but you need to work me into your schedule...” He replied, placing his hand on Sharky’s thigh.

 Sharky chuckled, “There’s always time for you in my schedule...” 

 Dusty smiled and laid back in his seat. 

—————

 When they got back to the trailer park, Sharky let Boomer out of the back seat then helped Dusty. He cleaned off his bed and lay on it with his partner and dog.

 “I love ya’, Shark...” Dusty said, wrapping his arms around the older man, pulling him closer.

 Sharky smiled and pet his head softly, “I love you too, baby...”

—————

 Sharky woke up the next day and did as Dusty requested, he fixed the speakers and figured out why they wouldn’t turn off. He walked in the house, Dusty greeting him upon entering, “Hey, did ya’ figure out what was wrong?”

 “Mhm, one of the Angels must’ve cut the wire or somethin’,” he said, wiping the grease off himself. 

 “Oh, well that sucks...” Dusty said, seeming to take a moment to think before resuming his task. Dusty was currently throwing away all the empty beer cans in his house. 

 Sharky walked up behind him, wrapping his arms around the smaller’s waist. “Y’know you don’t have ta’ do that, right..?”

 “Maybe, but it does need to get done...”

 “Mmm, well don’tcha wanna spend some time with me..?” Sharky asked, slipping his hands into Dusty’s pants.

 “Mph... o-okay...” Dusty said, setting the trash bag he was holding on the floor.

 “Good boy..” Sharky purred while nibbling on Dusty’s ear.

 Sharky removed his hand, picking Dusty up and taking him to bed. He set the younger man on the bed, straddling his lap and helping him get his shirt off. Dusty seemingly put no effort into taking his shirt off, and for good reason. 

 “Jesus Christ...” Sharky breathed, letting his eyes roam over Dusty’s chest, “What did they do to you...?”

 He had two large bruises in the middle of his chest and on his side, Envy was tattooed on his left pec, and Only You was carved into his right arm. There were long, deep gashes littering his torso.

 “I’m gonna fucking kill those two pricks...”

 “I-I’m working on it... they... trust me...” Dusty hesitated.

 Sharky stares at him for a moment, “You can’t do this to a person...”

 “T-they’ve done a lot worse to humans...!” 

 “But this is bullshit..” he sighed, not knowing what else to say. 

 Dusty put his hands on either side of Sharky’s face, rubbing his cheeks gently. “It’s okay... I can handle it...” he said, smiling softly.

 “But it’s not...” Sharky stared at him, placing his hand on his forearm, careful not to touch any of his wounds, “just promise me, when you get the chance, please fuck them up, for me...”

 Dusty chuckled, “Anything for you, Charlemagne...”


	4. Chapter 4

 Sharky and Dusty ended up cuddling and talking until they eventually fell asleep.

~~~~~

 “Fuck...” Dusty muttered while throwing the extra ammo found at the freshly liberated outpost in the back of their truck.

 “What?” Sharky asked, checking the brakes and engine of the truck.

 “Oh, nothing... I just need to go take care of something...” he said, he wasn’t necessarily lying, but seeing Jacob Seed face to face wasn’t something to be taken lightly, after what Staci had said last time, talking about Jacob getting into your brain, making you get use to, ‘Culling the herd’, it made him worry, and it sure as hell didn’t help when they shot him in the leg so they could transport him easily. Thankfully, they didn’t usually come for him in populated areas, but once he was out of sight, it was up to the Peggies noticing him or shooting. They had never missed him when Jacob demanded him to be brought in, and it had taken a toll on the junior deputy, and how the eldest Seed treated him didn’t help at all.

 “Mkay...” Sharky said, hesitancy evident in his tone.

 “Why don’t you go to the lumber mill? I’ll meet ya’ there in a bit, I need to head over to the F.A.N.G Center to make sure Cheeseburger’s healing well after the bliss fiasco...”

 Sharky smiled impishly, scratching the back of his head as he recalled the incident, about three weeks ago when they were helping Aunt Adelaide get Tulip back, he accidentally shot a container of bliss one to many times, making it blow up and throw Cheeseburger against a nearby wall. “Okay, I guess I’ll see you when you get back...” he said, stepping into the car.

 “Cya!” Dusty replied, waving at Sharky as he drove off, once he was out of sight, he started walking towards the road, just as expected, he was shot a few seconds after reaching the road.

~~~~~

 Waking up in a cage was something he was fairly use to, he had been caught about four times, each time gradually getting worse, he enjoyed talking to Staci while he cleaned him up and helped him eat and drink enough so he’d be able to stay alive. Staci was the same as before, the only things that had changed being his higher hesitation to trust (rightfully so), and his temper was set off more easily, but he was still Deputy Staci Pratt, and god damn him if he wasn’t going to help his previous partner as much as he could in such a situation.

 “Didn’t think you’d be back so soon...” Jacob’s gruff voice stated, smugness in his voice prominent. “I’ve got big plans for you today... y’know...” he continued, petting one of the judges as he watched Dusty sit up, “you’ve come a long way, Rook, but I’m gonna push you sooo much further...” he finished, malicious grin plastered on his face. He held he hand out towards Staci, who placed a small box in his hand, he chuckled darkly as he wound it up and opened it, the sickly sweet tune of “Only You” filled the air. 

~~~~~

 He killed Eli, _fuck_ , he’s dead, the body is still falling to the fucking floor.

 He stared at the body of the man that saved him from Jacob’s bullshit the first time, bullet in his brain, placed there by him, “Only you could’ve earned his trust...” he mumbles to himself repeatedly as Wheatley pushes him against the wall, pistol pointed at his head, tears streaming down his face.

 “YOU FUCKING KILLED HIM!” He yelled, voice cracking due to the effort put into saying it.

 Tammy grabs the gun, pushing it down and trying to talk to the teenager, “IT WAS JACOB!” She exclaimed, once the kids grip faltered and he stopped yelling, she continued in a normal tone, “It was Jacob... we’ve seen this before. Ronnie... Parker... this is what he does... and we let him right in...” Wheatley struggled for a moment, trying to regain control of the gun, efforts futile as Tammy pulled the gun out of his hands, turning to Dusty, holding him against the wall,  “if you find that motherfucker... WHEN you find Jacob, you better kill him, or next time I see you, so help me God... I’ll kill you myself...” she finished, moving Dusty and pushing him in the direction of the door. 

 He looked at the body of his ally one last time before leaving. 

 Upon exiting, he was immediately hit with a heavy dose of some drug, not bliss, definitely not, he couldn’t think, he couldn’t breath, he fell to the ground choking, before blacking out.


	5. Chapter 5

 “I-is there anyone out there from the Resistance?” A staticky voice said over the radio.

 Jess picked up the HAM radio sitting on the table, “Yeah, what seems to be the problem?” she asked, looking over at Grace.

 A loud scream was heard in the background, “U-uh... I’m Staci Pratt, I use to work with Dusty...”

 “Who screamed?”

 Jacob’s voice could be faintly heard saying, “Tammy and Wheatley were weak, why didn’t you shoot them too..? Eli wasn’t your only target...”

 Staci breathed a bit heavier, “D-Dusty...” he mumbled. 

 “Shit...” Grace muttered, looking around to make sure Sharky wasn’t anywhere near them, “What is he doing to him?”

 “Currently?”

 “Yes...”

 “Um...” there was a silence on the other side, “H-he’s uh... f-...” he stopped, taking a moment to take a deep breath, “fucking him..?” 

 Grace and Jess stared at each other for a long moment, “Does he have consent?” Grace asked.

 “Uh... I don’t think so, the Chosen were ordered to drug him, he was knocked out when they brought him in, but he’s conscious now....” 

 “Is this the first time?”

 “No, from what I’ve overheard, John and Joseph do it too..”

 “What about Faith?” 

 “No, I’m not absolutely sure what she does, but it’s not good... I know that for sure...” some more screams  were heard, “Shit, I think he’s done, I-I’ll try an contact you later...” he said before it the other end was filled with static.

~~~~~~

 Dusty was sobbing, his ass hurt and his legs felt like jelly, he was uncomfortable to say the least.

 Jacob laid him on the cougar skin rug on the floor of his office, then proceeded to grab something out of one of his desk drawers. He walked over beside Dusty, lifting his head up and making him drink something, Dusty didn’t fight it, he was to numb and tired.

 Jacob stood and let the drugs in the drug set in. He felt weird, his vision was slowly being consumed by darkness, and he just generally felt sick, the drug entered his system, making him go to sleep instantly.

~~~~~~

 Darkness, that’s all he saw, he could hear, but he couldn’t see or feel.

 “You really disappointed me today...” he heard Jacob say, “You know the weak’s purpose,” he saw white in his right eye, and heard some squelching, “to train the strong,” he heard a snip and the right eye returned to darkness, “that’s why I only choose the best of the best to be Judges,” he heard someone beside him gag as a small clang was heard, “Now you’ll have a wound that can’t heal... unlike John’s petty excuse for ‘Atonement’...” he sighed, “go get his wound cleaned and dressed as well as himself...”

 “Y-Yes sir...” he heard Pratt and someone he didn’t recognize stutter, before he was consumed by the darkness once more.

~~~~~

 He woke up, pain pounding in his skull. “F-fuck, I knew I should’ve given you more pain killers...” Pratt muttered, shaking a bottle of pills and handing them to Dusty, as well as a bottle of purified water.

 “Wh... What did he do to me..?” Dusty asked.

 “You... didn’t notice..?”

 Dusty cocked his head, “No..?”

 Pratt swallowed hard before bringing his hand up to his eye, Dusty mimicked the action, feeling the cloth wrapped around his head, “W-what the fuck...?” He pulled his hand away only to see blood coating his fingers, “He didn’t...”

 Staci nodded slowly, “I’m sorry... but he was pissed when he heard you left Tammy and Wheatley....”

 “So... he fucked me, and then...” he chuckled, “ripped my motherfucking eyeball out..?”

 “Pretty much...” Staci breathed.

 “God, he really is a fucking prick...”

 Staci hummed in agreement, “He can get mean...”

 “He ripped.... my.... motherfucking eye out... because I didn’t exterminate all my friends in the vicinity...” 

 “Hey, he’s planning on releasing you tomorrow...”

 Dusty laughed heartily, “He’s releasing me back into the wilds of Montana, so I can plan and come back to free you and fuck his shit up...”

 Staci smiled sweetly, “Let’s hope you can pull this off...” he said before standing and walking away.

~~~~~

 Dusty arrived at the mill on an ATV, having a bloody bandage on and an red undershirt Staci found that was supposedly the only one that would fit him. Jess and Grace greeted him as he approached the mill, immediately noticing the bloody bandage around his head and the scars littering his body.

 “What happened?” Jess asked, staring at the bandage.

 “Uh...” he made vague gestures, “cougar attacked me on my way to see Cheeseburger...” he lied.

 “Mhm...” Grace hummed, worried expressions on both hers and Jess’ faces, knowing what it actually came from, anxiety eating at their insides as they didn’t know how serious it actually was.

 Sharky and Hurk came over, Sharky enveloping him in a hug, “You were gone for three fucking days, and no one at the Center had seen you, he pulled away, holding his shoulders tightly, he opened his mouth to ask about the wound, but Dusty cut him off before he could start, quickly talking about a fight with a cougar, Sharky and Hurk didn’t believe it, but nodded their heads in acknowledgment.


	6. Authors note!

I’m going to take a break for about two days, I had a seizure and need to have some time to recuperate, thank you so much for your patience ^^


	7. Chapter 7

 The next few months were quiet, Sharky would go with Dusty and liberate outposts, rescue civilians, run errands for their friends, etc. with little to no issues. They finally killed Jacob around five months into it.

 Sharky found Dusty sitting on the roof of the main building at the lumber mill. “Hey, amigo...” he said, sitting next to him.

 Dusty replied with a soft grunt, moving a bit and pulling the sleeves of his shirt down. It was weird, he had been doing that for a while now and it slightly worried Sharky.

 Dusty and Sharky watched the sun set completely before they were bothered, “Hey little cuz, what’re you two doin’ up here?” Hurk asked, taking a swig of his beer.

 “Just getting away from the chaos that is this world...” Dusty muttered, standing, “I’m going to bed....” he sighed as he jumped off the roof onto one of the cars below, humming “Only You”.

 Sharky watched as he left, noting the footsteps approaching. “Do you guys know why he’s been acting so weird...?” There was a pause, “Shouldn’t he be happy and celebrating Jacob’s death? And what the actual fuck is with that song he’s been humming lately?” 

 Jess sat with Hurk, Sharky, and Grace, but Staci stayed standing. “Wait... he’s been humming a weird song lately...?”

 Sharky nodded, “Yeah, it sounds like this...” he then proceeded to hum “Only You”

 “....Shit....” the deputy said, face contorted into that of slight horror.

 “What?” Hurk asked.

 “That was the song that Jacob use to play, that was the reason he killed...-“ Staci cut himself off when he realized they didn’t know.

 “Who killed who?” Grace asked.

 “U-um...” Staci coughed, “remember that one time I called you via radio a month or two back...?”

 Jess and Grace nodded hesitantly, remembering they hadn’t told Hurk or Sharky about what they had learned that day.

 “Um... well... he was kinda getting punished for only killing Eli.... and sparing Tammy and Wheatley...” he finally said, voice almost a whisper.

 “Who?” Hurk inquired.

 “R-Rook....?” 

 The four stared at the deputy in shock.

 “He... killed Eli...?” Sharky asked

 Staci nodded, “H-he didn’t want to... Jacob knew that Eli would trust him... and...” a shiver ran down his spine as he recalled the bloodbath that he had seen on the camera, “he did... Jacob... has won... at least he thought he had...”

 Jess huffed, “That’s still a rough punishment for such a small thing...”

 “What is?” Sharky asked, turning to face Jess.

 “Uh.... g-getting his eye cut out..?” Grace said, voice weary.

 “Yeah, not buying that for a minute... tell me.” Sharky said, warning in his voice.

 “You don’t want to know... believe me...” Jess said truthfully.

 “I already know that music that he hums on the regular made him murder someone, I’m sure that whatever this is will be fine.”

 “O-okay... Jacob might’ve fu-“ Staci was cut off by a blood curdling scream of a woman, coming from the direction Dusty left.

 The group went as fast as they could to get to the woman, and were relieved, but still horrified by what they saw. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about this chapter being so short, as you know I had a seizure a few days ago, but on top of that, my dog passed yesterday.  
>  This week has been very long but I still wanted to post something, thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed this chapter ^^


	8. Chapter 8

The woman was cowering in the corner, tears streaming down her face while Dusty pushed a Peggie against one of the trees, holding a knife to his throat and leaning really close to his face, “I’d like to drag your death out... like I did to you’re friend...” he gestured vaguely towards the body a little deeper in the woods, though the guts of the guy made a little trail, it was still pretty hard to see in the dark of the night, “but I have better things to do with my time...” he finished, lacing his fingers in the Peggie’s hair and pulling it to the side, in order to slit his throat. The man choked and slid down the tree, hands wrapped around his neck, guttural noises were the only thing other than Dusty sheathing his knife.

Pratt and Sharky stared wide eyed as Dusty watched the life drain out of the cultist, chuckling lightly as he finally stopped squirming, “Y’know it’s rude to stare...” he said, turning around to face them. His body was covered in blood, mainly little drops on his face and shirt, but his hands, going up to around his arms was completely covered in blood.

Grace and Jess took a step back when Dusty turned around, Hurk stepping forward to help the woman up and back to the main building. Dusty stood in place, watching him intently with a small smirk, “I think I’m going to head out, I need to go make sure no Peggies have been bothering the Jailhouse,” he sighed, looking to the side, smile fading for a moment before returning as he looked back, “Make sure these bodies get cleaned up, wouldn’t want many more people seein’ my... artwork...?” He said, seemingly contemplating the use, he finally nodded and walked away, humming “Only You”.

~~~~~

Staci shuddered as he heard the song, he went and grabbed a flashlight from another building and came back to investigate the scene. There was a trail of guts, leading to a mutilated body, the spine and head were hidden in separate bushes about ten feet from the body, it made the group nauseous, but they’d seen much worse, so it didn’t bother them as much as it would a normal human.

Hurk came back over after taking the lady back, slightly gagging at the initial smell, “Sweet little baby Jesus’...” he said, looking around.

“He was really pissed...” Staci whispered.

“No, he’s like this when he’s bored...” Sharky corrected, thinking back to when they met, the work he did on those angels was extraordinary...

“I think he was right though...” Grace started, “we need to clean this up before someone else comes back here and freaks out...”

“Grace and I’ll clean, Pratt? Shark? You two go to the Jailhouse, make sure he doesn’t cause anymore shit.” Jess said exasperatedly.

Staci and Sharky nodded, now making their way to the truck the cultists has used to get there.

~~~~~

They had left about ten minutes after Dusty, so they probably wouldn’t run into him until they got to the Jailhouse. It was relatively quiet, and Staci didn’t like music (damn Jacob Seed...), so they sat in silence.... until Sharky opened his mouth, that is.

“Do you know why Dusty’s always on edge? I mean, we’re best friends and all but-“

“First off,” Staci started, holding a finger up, signaling for him to shut up, “You two are not just friends, everyone and their dog knows that you two are fucking, and yes,” he put his hand down, leaning back in his seat and staring out the window, “Sheriff Whitehorse had known his family, and knew his story, he explained why he was so.... violent.... and, frankly, he has good reason to be...” he breathed.

 Sharky had a dark blush covering his face because of Staci saying everyone knew they were having sex, but the last part got to him, and, being Charlemagne Victor Boshaw IV, he pressed. “What do you mean?”

 Staci exhaled, crossing his arms, “If he wanted you to know, he would’ve told you...”

 “Yeah, well he didn’t tell you himself, someone else did, and you just worked with him, it’s not like you two have a relationship.”

 “He’s not just a co-worker to me!” Staci exclaimed, turning to face Sharky, “He almost fucking died for me... more than once...” he said, softer, “He had to kill his fucking dad... he had been an alcoholic, spending all his paychecks at the bar... his mom had been trying to get him to stop, but he had always blown her warnings off like it was nothing, she had depression, and one day, he came home from school and saw her body handing from the ceiling, he called 911, but it was too late. His dad was found at the bar an hour later, drunk off his ass, after the mom was out of the picture, everything got worse, his dad started coming home from the bar late at night and raping him, telling him he was worthless and beating him. He was only ten when his mom died, the raping started that year, and didn’t end until he put a stop to it. Stabbed the man in the jugular, it was a bloodbath... he called the police and told them what he did, he was sobbing on the other line, he was only sixteen, and he had to murder his father... and he would’ve put up with it, but his dad had tried to stab me in a drunken rage, he sat there and waited until the police arrived, telling me to go home so that I’d be safe, and, I did... Luckily the neighbors had seen most of what happened over the six years and some people passing had seen his dad try an kill me, so he didn’t get put in jail for long. He went back to his house after he served his sentence, and finished high school, he and I continued to be friends, but.. he had become more closed off... and...” he stopped himself, wiping his eyes and looking out the window, “Anyways... you better treat him well, he deserves it...” And with that, they pulled into the parking lot of the Jailhouse.


	9. Chapter 9

 Sharky had a lot to think about now, so much that his body went into autopilot, brain barely registering that Dusty’s car wasn’t there, what room he was in, the people trying to talk to him, etc. 

 “Oh God, Staci?” Whitehorse asked, walking over to him and pulling him into a hug, “I thought Jacob had killed you!”

 Staci stood there awkwardly as the Sheriff pulled back, still holding his shoulders, “No, luckily for me, Rook got to him before he could finish me!” They both chuckled, “Speaking of Rook, have you seen him recently..?” 

 “Oh, no..? He’s been working in the Whitetail Mountains lately, but judging by Joseph’s message, he should be coming back sometime soon...” he said thoughtfully.

 “Hm... okay, well, is there anywhere we can sleep?” 

 “Yeah, give me a sec,” he replied, walking away only to come back with young man who showed them where the beds were.

 Staci thanked them and went into a cell, Sharky slowly following behind, confused look plastered on his face. Staci thought nothing of it as he kicked his shoes off and lied down, closing his eyes and crossing his hands over his chest. “G’night.” He said.

 “Gnight...” Sharky mumbled.

~~~~~

 The next morning they woke up to people frantically running around in the main room, Staci sat up, trying to shake the sleep from his system as he put his shoes on, he stood and left, stopping a lady passing, “Why is there so much commotion..?” He asked, voice still sleep ridden.

 The woman panted, “Sheriff Whitehorse is in a frazzle since Rook came in a couple minutes ago barely breathing and on top of that, they can’t find his damn pulse.”

 Staci’s eyes widen, “Shit... Where is he?”

 She takes a deep breath in before releasing it, “He’s in the med bay...”

 “Where’s that?” 

 “When you enter in through the front, there’s a green door past where they keep the guns, go through that door and his bed is the third one on your left.”

 He patted her shoulder gently, “Thank you so much, you’re a life saver!” He said, running back into the cell to wake Sharky.

 Sharky jumped up when Staci started shaking him, “W-What the fuck is goin’ on?” He asked, half awake.

 “Dusty came back but is in critical condition.”

 This made Sharky come fully to. He stood up, “Where are they keeping him?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the short chapter, I’m going to post tomorrow night if I can, but the reason there isn’t much is because I wanted to build suspense.


	10. Chapter 10

 As Sharky and Staci entered the room, they immediately knew where Dusty was. There was a large group of people surrounding him, as well as people bustling around the room, the Sheriff and two other men were trying to hold the crowd back while Virgil and Tracey gave him CPR in hopes to get him breathing again while Doctor Lindsey tried to stop him from bleeding out. For a moment, Sharky and Staci got a look at Dusty, it was only for a moment, grant it, but there was blood everywhere.

 "Is he breathing yet?" they heard Earl shout.

 Virgil pushed down once more before pulling back to see if he was, "Barely..." he replied, breathing heavily.

 "Shit..." Tracey breathed, wiping her forehead with the back of her hand.

 Earl seemed to relax a bit after hearing that the rookie was breathing now. "What about the bleeding, has it stopped yet?"

 "Yes, I need to bandage it though, it's pretty bad, so please get these people to leave..." the doctor replied.

 Staci grabbed a pistol off of one of the bedside tables and fired it at the ceiling, yelling, "EVERYBODY OUT!" as he did so.

 The people instinctively scrambled to exit, leaving Tracey, Earl, Virgil and Charles staring at the two. Staci set the gun down and stared back, Sharky staring down at Dusty. "I-I think I'm going to go make sure everyone is still working..." Virgil stated, slipping out of one of the doors.

 Tracey sighed and brought a couple of machines over to hook up to Dusty. Charles left to go get bandages for his wounds.

 "What...." Sharky took in a deep breath while Tracey removed Dusty's shirt, revealing almost all of the wounds he had gotten recently.

 Staci took the silence that suddenly befell the normally talkative man as a sign to finish his question, "What happened..?"

 Whitehorse looked back at Dusty for a moment, before returning his gaze to the two in front of him, "I'm not absolutely sure myself... a couple of our people went out to scout a new outpost that needed to be liberated and found him... they... left out a lot of details... and that's saying the least..."

 "I can go get it out of 'em if you need me to." Tracey said as she put a needle in Dusty's left arm.

 "I... I guess you can if you want to..." the Sheriff said, rubbing the back of his neck.

 Tracey pumped her fist victoriously, "I'll be right back!" she shouted as she ran out the main door.

 "Uh.. I'm gonna go get a hold of Jess..." Staci said, slowly backing away.

 Earl grabbed a chair and moved it close to Dusty's bed, pointing at it he spoke, "Go ahead and sit, Doctor Lindsey should be back in a couple of minutes with bandages, a bucket of water, and a clean cloth." he said as he made his way to the door.

 Sharky mouthed a 'thank you' and sat, letting his eyes roam over Dusty's body, stopping at his neck, right side, and forearms. His right side looked mutilated, probably just a wild animal attacked him, maybe one of the Judges that was still on the prowl. His forearms had the word " _Sinner"_ carved into them in a bunch of different places, this was definitely not John or Jacob's work, seeing that John usually only put the word down once and Jacob wasn't into that type of shit, it could've been Faith, but more than likely it wasn't, so that only left one person, Dusty, "He's been cutting himself...?" he whispered to himself sadly. And finally, his neck had a mark on the front and sides, it looked like rug burn... no...? "rope burn... he tried to hang himself...?" he sighed softly as the pieces clicked into place. Pratt entered a few seconds later, right as he said "He's been torturing himself this whole time..."

 "What? Who has?" Staci asked upon entering.

 "N-no one..." Sharky replied defensively.

 "Jeeze... sorry... anyways, Jess and Grace are on their way."

 "What about Hurk?"

 "Said his dad was gonna make him sleep outside if he didn't come back and help him with something..."

 "Oh, well then..."

 Staci pulled up a chair, putting it next to Sharky's and plopping down.

 Sharky leaned forward, gently placing his hand on Dusty's and rubbing it, even though his hand was rough, it was comforting...


	11. Chapter 11

Doctor Lindsey came back in, setting a bucket down beside the Rookie, dipping a piece of cloth in it and wringing it out before bringing it up to clean his wounds, he tried to clean some of the dirt and blood off of him before he started to wrap him up, a large one on his waist, and on his forearms, the bite mark from an animal and the Eden’s Gate Sigil now being noticed before the doctor put antiseptic on it and covering it up.

“He should be good for a while, he needs to have that changed every day until it has healed.” Charles said as he stood, bringing the bucket with him.

“Okay, we’ll be sure to keep it clean, thank you, Doctor.” Staci said with a small smile.

Sharky sighed, intertwining his and Dusty’s fingers.

Staci put his hand on his back in an attempt to reassure him, “He’ll be fine, he just needs some time...”

“I... I know that it’s just... the fact I couldn’t be there to help him... y’know... it’s just hard...” he breathed, squeezing Dusty’s hand gently.

“I know... and that’s fine, it’s been rough for all of us, I remember when we were younger, it was horrible seeing him like this...”

Sharky looked over at him, “What do you mean, ‘When we were younger’...?”

“He... He was quiet and usually kept to himself, and when people found out about his home situation, he was bullied often, that on top of the abuse from his father landed him in the hospital, by the time he was old enough to get a job to pay off his medical bills, most of the people on staff knew his name... the worse part about it being that we were best friends, met in Kindergarten, and uh... he’d get back from the hospital and... let’s just say I was one of the nerdy kids, he always tried to stand up for me or take the blame for me, and... as you could imagine, that got him beat more, and drug his name through the mud. He did what he could for me, mainly because I was his only friend, I repaid him by giving him half of my lunch since his mom was usually at work and his dad wasn’t usually there, at least until 10th grade... we... I had been invited to be friends with the popular kids, I obviously said yes, and ditched him, and... he stopped showing up to class... I got worried and went to his house after a week of being gone, upon entering, I looked around, his dad was drinking a bottle of whiskey in the kitchen, he was lying on the floor, having had a bottle of moonshine smashed on his head. His dad looked over at me as I ran over to Dusty, dropping to the floor next to him, his dad was slurring something, but I couldn’t tell what. He was awake, but his head was bleeding, his eyes widened as he pushed me, father stabbing him in the arm. It was all fuzzy, having hit my head against the fridge, but I distinctly remember him kicking his dad and pulling the knife out of his arm, he knocked his father to the ground, gripping his hair and pulling back until he had a clean shot, he took the opportunity and plunged the knife into his neck, blood squirting everywhere. After that I blacked out, when I woke up, I was in the hospital, I didn’t see him again until this year when he ended up getting a job at the same station I was at.” He sighed, chuckling a bit, “He’s a good man, exceptionally tough to... but, he needs someone who’ll be there for him, whether they’re just a shoulder to cry on, or someone to love and them love him back...” Staci smiled softly as he faced Sharky, “Promise me you’ll be there for him, even if he tries to push you away.”

Sharky took a moment to think about that he was getting himself into, but, being a Boshaw, and being Charlemagne Victor Boshaw IV none the less, he nodded, “I promise...”

Staci’s smile widened, tears pricking at the corners of his eyes as he pulled Sharky into a hug, “Thank you so much...”

Sharky hesitantly hugged back, unsure of how to respond, he (surprisingly) kept quiet.


	12. Chapter 12

For the next two days, Sharky sat by Dusty, mainly spending his time sleeping or messing around with stuff that was in and on the table next to him, talking to people when they came in to bring him food or check on them. Jess and Grace has gotten there about two to three hours after Staci had contacted them. They had come in, asking about what had happened, luckily, Tracey burst in the door with the information thirty minutes after leaving. They lost their shit after hearing what happened and seeing everything that happened to him, the only thing they knew was that some of the Peggies in John’s area had thrown him out of a truck into Faith’s area, and left him there, presumably to die. After they had calmed down, Virgil came in and asked them to help, hoping to take their mind off of what had happened, and he had only seen them about six times since. Staci had come in frequently to check up on them and talk with him... he was a good friend. But now most of the people were asleep, the time being somewhere around 11:47 p.m., one of those people being Sharky, Staci was sitting in the chair next to him, watching over him and Dusty. He was getting ready to leave when Dusty shot up, his breathing heavy and uneven. Sharky woke and Staci jumped at the sudden movement. Dusty was wincing due to the pain in his side and arm, though it hurt, he toughed it out, swinging his legs around and standing after he steadied his breathing.

“Dusty, you need to rest... your really injured...” Staci said in a soft voice while keeping it steady and stern.

“I don’t have time for this, I never had, I never could, I...” he stood, tripping and barley catching himself, he picked his backpack up, they had found it a few feet away from his body. He sighed, digging through his bag and pulling out a black and grey flannel shirt, black jeans, a pair of socks, and black shoes. He pulled the clothes on, having only been in boxer briefs only a few minutes ago. Sharky and Staci watched him, knowing they wouldn’t be able to talk him out of whatever he was doing. He pulled a knife out of his bag that had a red handle, the one that Jacob paraded around with, along with a bottle of rum. Slinging the bag on his back, he took long strides towards the door, picking up an AK-47 and putting the strap across his chest before pushing it to his back as well, car keys hanging from his jeans jingling with each movement.

“What the fu-“ Tracey started, “where do you think you’re going?”

He stopped, taking a moment to look back at her over his shoulder. He took a swig of the alcohol before speaking, “I have some unfinished business to attend to, if you’d kindly fuck off, that’d be grand.” He breathed.

“Excuse me?” She scoffs, crossing her arms, “We fucking saved your life and this is how you treat us in return.”

He sighed, chuckling slightly at the end, “You guys don’t even fucking know the half of it...”

“Dusty...” Sharky started, standing and walking towards him.

“Stop.” He said sternly, and, surprisingly, Sharky did, “I don’t want you guys to get hurt, stay here, and you’ll be fine, come with me, and...” he stops for a moment, taking a moment to think about his next words, “I’ve done a lot of things I regret... don’t make me do more...” he said as he left.

Sharky sighed as he watched Dusty leave. Staci put his hand on his shoulder, “He’ll be fine, you know he will...”

He did know that, but sometimes it was hard to remember, to believe. The one he loved, or at least thought he did, almost died and was already leaving again, basically threatening him before he did, tomorrow would bring new things, tomorrow is another day.


	13. Chapter 13

It was a week before they heard from anyone outside of the Jailhouse again, they had tried contacting Mary Mae earlier that day, but to no avail. Staci was sitting in front of the radio messing with the stapler when the Peggie chatter got... odd...

“Shit! Those damn sinners got ahold of a gun!”

“Get John to the Ranch! He can call the Chosen in once he’s safe!”

“Okay,” there was only static after that.

About ten minutes later Nick came over the radio, “Rook, go with Mary, you need to get John before it’s to late!”

“Alright, grab the first aid kit from the church, Jerome can help you get patched up.” Dusty replied after a moment.

“Thanks, stay safe.”

“You too.”

Then static again.

~~~~~

It wasn’t until early the next morning they heard anything besides the Peggies scrambling, assumably because Dusty was coming for their Baptist. “He’s dead, Joey and most of the other people in the bunker are okay,” Dusty said, stopping for a moment to cough, “The place blew up, no Peggies made it out, at least to our knowledge.”

“Hell Yeah! Amazing work, Dep!” Nick replied.

“I... We’re on our way back to Fall’s End... See ya’ soon...”

“Cya!”

Staci stared wide eyed at the radio before standing and going to find the sheriff. He was breathing heavily as he entered the infirmary, “Stace? You alright?” Whitehorse asked, turning around to face him and basically abandoning the conversation he was having with Sharky.

He placed his hands on his knees, trying to catch his breath, “Dusty.... he liberated Holland Valley...” he stated, looking up with a smile on his face.

“Really?” Earl asked, excitement in his voice.

“Yeah, and Joey’s okay!”

“Um... I don’t think Joseph’s okay with what happened...” Sharky cut in, pointing at the t.v. they had moved into the infirmary.

“Another seal has been broken... My brother, John, was loved by few... Feared by many...-“

“Wow, I didn’t know he did this...” Staci said, amusement evident in his voice.

“Yeah, same thing happened when Dusty killed Jacob... it’s nice he at least cares though...” Sharky said, Earl humming in agreement.

“Those responsible for his death will be punished... I promise you that...” he finished before the screen cut to black.

“Mmm... well, in any case... Dusty’s heading back to Fall’s End, I think I’m going to head over there as well, would you care to join me, Sharky?”

Sharky took a second to think before nodding and standing, “Yeah, let’s go...”

“Be careful while your out, I’m sure Joseph is gonna make Faith have more Peggies patrolling in hopes she’ll survive...” Earl said as they left.

“We will, thanks!” Staci said before the door closed behind them.


	14. Chapter 14

The Spread Eagle has a lot of business that day, everyone was happy and/or drunk off their tits, except Dusty. He should’ve been the most happy, one step closer to Joseph, one step closer to shutting this all down, but instead of celebrating with the people surrounding him, or at least having a conversation with someone, he sat at the bar, drinking Jack Daniel’s.

“You’re gonna get yourself sick if you keep doing this...” Mary said, leaning on the bar next to Dusty.

“Ah, I don’t give a fuck...” he sighed, combing a hand through his hair, “I do need to go home soon, prefer not having Peggie’s blood staining my clothes, but... y’know...” He drifted off, throwing back another shot.

Mary chuckled lightly, “What about Joey? You can’t just leave her here...”

“We can walk back to my house, it might take a bit, but it’s better than crashing.”

“Hm, well, give me a second, I’ll go fetch her...” she said, setting the bottle she had in her hand down and walking away.

He put his elbows up on the bar, resting his head in his hands. He registered the hand on his shoulder, but that didn’t mean he cared.

“Dusty?” He heard Sharky’s voice ask, he turned enough to see that both Sharky and Staci were behind him.

“What?” He asked, voice flat and emotionless.

The look on Sharky’s face was concerned, “Are you okay?”

Dusty exhaled, turning back to the bar, “I’m fine, just... tired...” he lied.

“You’ve been acting weird lately, and it’s kinda been making me worry, dude...”

“Welp, that’s just the way the cookie crumbled, huh?” He said as he stood, walking out the door.

Sharky followed, “Why have you been acting like this?”

Dusty stopped, mumbling something under his breath before he continued moving.

“Please answer... I promise we can just drink beer and fry some angels after, I just wanna know what’s up with you.”

He spun around on his heel, catching Sharky off guard and making him jump, “Maybe the fact that one of the last things John said before he died was that basically, even though I think I’m saving the people of Hope County, I’m just bringing them to their death. I’m the bad guy, I’m Wrath, I’m....” He sniffled, blinking back the tears that threatened to escape, “Y’know... I’m just so tired... I’ll wait for Joey... and I’m going home...” he stated, voice empty and distant.

Sharky pulled him into a hug, “Don’t let those Seeds get into your head, you’re doin’ amazing things out there, they’re just trying to break you, make you into a mindless slave like those Angels, but you keep fighting, no matter how tough it is, just so we can be saved... So that we will be able to live...” he sighed, tightening his grip slightly. “You know what? You’re takin’ tomorrow off, we’re gonna go kill some Peggies and listen to some bitchin’ music! Does that sound good?” He asked as he pulled back.

Dusty nodded, movement barely visible, but still seen. A small smile grew on Sharky’s face, “Why don’t we wait in the car?”

~~~~~

It took around thirty minutes for Staci to come out, dragging Joey along, they were both laughing, but Joey was obviously drunk. “A-and you know, those f- *hic* -king Peggies never stood a chance.” She slurred as Staci helped her into the car.

“I bet you blew their heads off.”

“Naw, even better, I blew their dicks off!”

Staci stopped what he was doing momentarily to think about what she said, then continued in silence.

“So...” Dusty continued to tell Sharky how to get to his house when everyone was in the car.

~~~~

About thirty minutes later, they finally arrived, Joey was passed out, so Sharky unlocked the door while Dusty and Staci tried to get Joey out of the car and into the house. She ended up on the couch once they had folded it out, Staci sitting on a chair next to it. Dusty disappeared into the kitchen, only to come back with a bottle of water for each of them, they were all cold, “Do you have a generator somewhere in here?” Staci asked.

Dusty nodded as he drank his water, when he swallowed what he had in his mouth, he spoke, “It’s in the basement, could turn the lights on if ya’ want, but it’d be most preferred if you waited until I went upstairs.”

Staci nodded slowly, “Alright, well, I guess I’ll stay down here with Jo, if that’s okay with you, Ro-“

“Ah, it’s fine, make yourselves at home, take a shower if ya’ want, just don’t stay on there too long, or you’ll be trippin’ balls when you get out...” he said as he ascended the stairs.

Sharky put his foot on the first step, as he tried the second step, Staci started talking, “Is he okay? He seemed... off... at the Spread Eagle... he’s usually more happy than not when he’s surrounded by alcohol...”

Sharky sighed and looked at him, “I think all this Seed business is takin’ a real tole on him...”

“As it would any human...” Staci stared at the floor, “He shouldn’t have this big of a responsibility on his shoulders, no one person should...”

“Yeah, but at least he’s trying his best, unlike most of the people that live here, hiding in bunkers and not doin’ much else.”

“Dutch provides information, like Eli did, so, they’re not NOT helping...”

“They might help in those areas, but they don’t go out and risk their lives and sanity for the sake of other people, they provide from the safety of a bunker, not from the dangers of the wilderness...”

Staci looked up at him for a moment, “I... um... you should probably go up with Dusty, make sure he’s good...”

Sharky took a moment before replying, “Okay, stay here with Joey...” when he saw Staci nod, he continued up the steps.


	15. Chapter 15

 There were pictures of a family lining the halls, a father, a mother, and two sons, it was cute, they were all happy... There were several photos of the two boys playing together, one in a pillow fort, one in a field with a football flying at the younger of the two, and one of the pair having a food fight. One picture had What appeared to be a younger Staci in it, there was a boy seemingly his age next to him, a bandage over the bridge of his nose, he had one eye closed, his tongue out, and was holding up bunny ears behind Staci’s head, his hair was dark grey, like Dusty’s, a young man that looked like he was seven, had his arms up, showing a toothy smile, three of his teeth were visibly missing, he resembled the boy on the other side of Staci down to the shape of his head. Later down the line of pictures, the older boy disappeared, the happiness and spunk the family once had, now gone, forced smiles and staged photos now filling the walls. The younger boy stood next to his mom in one, his lip was split pretty bad, and his mom was pregnant, probably around six weeks into the pregnancy, but still visibly pregnant, after that photo, there was no more traces of the father, only the young boy and his mother, and they looked happy, real happiness, at least in the boy, the mother was different, forcing a smile.

 He came up to the door at the end of the hall on the right side, there was a light under the door, so he assumed Dusty was in there. Before he entered, he looked at the picture framed and hung beside the door, ignoring the sounds coming from the other side of the door, it was a well drawn picture of three little boys,  a little girl holding the shortest boy’s hand, and a woman, presumably the mother and the three boys in previous pictures, though he had no clue where the girl came from, the words at the top saying, ‘Best Frends Forever, though death may do us part.’

 He exhaled quietly and knocked on the door, he heard a quiet growl and what he assumed was a squeaking bed. Opening the door, he was met with the sight of Dusty sitting on the bed with his headphones on, facing the other direction while Peaches was staring at the door, visibly relaxing when she saw who it was. Dusty had his shirt and jeans off, a large bandage wrapped around his thigh, blood leaking through, “What the fuck are you doing?” He asked loudly.

 Dusty didn’t seem to notice, now taking the velcro end and pushing it onto the bandage, hissing when he obviously pushed to hard. He took his eyepatch off and set it on his nightstand, next to some trophies he had obtained from John and Jacob, Jacob’s music box and knife as well as John’s Aviators and one of his tattoo machines. He sighed laid down, staring at the ceiling, he couldn’t see Sharky due to the fact that Sharky was on his right, (aka: the side he’s missing an eye on) it was a mess, his eyelids and the eyeball itself had been cut out and off of his face, a burn surrounding the area.

 Sharky moved a bit closer, closing the door when fully in the room, he was trying to get Dusty’s attention, his eye was pretty bad, but the smell of burning flesh is a helluva lot worse. “Dusty?” He asked cautiously, circling the bed, when he got to the point he could see his good eye, he noticed it was closed and that Peaches was now sleeping next to him, he got up beside him, looking at the stuff on his table, the music box was really nice, and the knife looked like it could do a lot of damage. John’s glasses had a crack in the left lense, but they still looked badass, and the tattoo machine... well... it was a tattoo machine... gotta respect the ink.

 Dusty looked over at him, slightly startled by the figure, but reminded himself about the guests he had before he could react. “The fuck are you doin’ up here? I thought you and Stace were talkin’ or somethin’...” he said as he pulled his headphones down around his neck, moving his hand to hide his eye. 

 Sharky almost dropped the knife in his hands, “Shit!!” He exclaimed, trying to keep the knife in his hands, he exhaled and set it back in the table, turning his attention to Sharky, “What? Oh, I came up to check on you, y’know, since ya’ drank all that alcohol earlier...”

 “Mmm... well, I’m fine, so if you want to go explore or do whatever, I have two rooms across the hall or if ya’ wanna sleep with me, I can get Peaches on the floor...” 

 Sharky chuckled softly, moving Dusty’s hand and giving him a kiss, “If Peaches is okay with me sleepin’ in here, I wouldn’t be against it...” he said.

 Dusty smiled lightly, and gave Peaches a treat, she got it in her mouth and moved to the other end of the room, lying on the mattress in the corner and enjoying her treat. 

 Sharky moved to the other side of the bed, taking his jeans, hat, and sweatshirt off and throwing it onto the floor. He slid under the blankets, wrapping his arms around Dusty’s waist even though he was above the blankets, “What happened to your leg..?” He asked after a few moments of silence.

 “Oh, um, one of the Peggies tryna protect John shot me...” he lied.

 Yet Sharky believed him, “Hm... they’re dicks...” 

 “That they are...” Dusty breathed, turning the light off, “That they are...”


	16. Chapter 16

 Sharky woke up the next morning, and instead of being next to his boyfriend, he was alone. He sighed and sat up, squinting his eyes slightly as he scanned the room, the sunlight flooding into the room through the window blinding him. A pair of clothes sat on a chair in the corner of the room, he looked around trying to find his, but they were gone. He stood up and ignored the clothes for the time, looking around the room, there were shelves made of wood on the walls, small trophies sitting here and there, other spots taken up by toys or pictures. The walls didn’t have any paint, none of the ones he had seen in the house did, but drawings littered them, some crude, others halfway decent, the worst being the happiest, slowly but surely getting better and sadder, the last one, behind Peaches’ bed had a little boy and an army soldier on it, the top read, “A loving brother, sent to war by the feuds at home, Jackson, please stay safe, for me?” There were tear stains on different parts of the picture, most of them sitting at the bottom and over the two figures.  

 He sighed and walked back over to the chair, getting dressed and going downstairs, upon entering the hall, he was greeted by a potent smell, the scent was food, no doubt about it, but he couldn’t put his finger on what it was...

 “Hey, Dufty left fum food in da kifen...” Joey said through a mouthful of food.

 “Oh, okay, do you know where he is? I wanted to talk to him.” Sharky asked.

 Joey swallowed the food before continuing, “He and Stace are outside in the backyard, go down that hall, there’s a backdoor in the kitchen you can use.” She said before shoveling another spoonful of pancake into her mouth, leaning back slightly and turning the radio up a bit.

 “Alright, thanks.” He followed her directions, sure enough, there was a plate of pancakes on the table in the middle of the room, syrup sitting next to it, and a door in the back to the very far right. He went out the door, seeing Dusty crouching down and Staci standing beside him. 

 Upon getting closer, he noticed Dusty was tracing his finger on the writing on the rock infront of him. “It’s still really hard without ‘em, y’know? Mom was great, Jackson and I had a lot of fun together... I...” He sighed, and stilling for a moment before retracting and sitting on his leg, “Mom got really upset after Jackson died... Dad didn’t really care, he was actually happy about it... You stopped comin’ around after his death, hangin’ the popular kids, Mom got pregnant three years after he died, and killed herself about five months into the pregnancy... Dad was pissed, calling her a bunch of things she wasn’t, saying she left him alone with an incapable son, a sissyboy... he started takin’ me out and tryin’ to teach me how to hunt, beating me when I didn’t do it correctly or let prey get away... it took its tole on him, all the pent up anger over the next few months started gettin’ released on me, he... he...” He exhaled shakily, “he started raping me... I was fine, got use to it after a while, he verbally and physically abused me, but I could handle it, I was tough, I was strong, I only had to survive three more years, then I’d be free... but, that night, I came out of my room to get water, but he was drinkin’ at home that night and got mad at me for still being awake, he smashed the bottle on my head, and I fell to the floor, everything was fuzzy, everything was numb, couldn’t feel jackshit if I tried, then I saw you above me, and God fucking damn that man, when I saw him behind you with the knife, something snapped, I had to protect you, you stood by my brother until his death and I couldn’t let you die, I couldn’t protect Mom, I couldn’t protect Jackson, I couldn’t protect Cheyenne, but fuck, I still had the chance with you, and I took it, pushin’ you into the fridge and taking the damage for ya’,” he sniffles and chuckled softly, “pushed him back and took his own weapon, using it against him, I plunged it into his jugular, ha... a fifteen year old killing a drunk forty somethin’ year old... you passed out, so I went out and started digging the hole, burying him and calling the EMS, cleaning up the evidence, I said you were my adopted dad and you tripped and banged your head, they asked me to come with them, but I said I was gonna wait til’ my big sister got home. Didn’t ask many questions after that, but I couldn’t show my face for a while, so I disappeared, met up with a few friends, and left, came back after a few years of running and got a job with the Sheriff’s Department, life was good... then those fucking Seeds took over, and I... They...” he stood, hands balled up into tight fists, “They’ve done so many things... I can’t let them stay, I swear to God I’ll shut this down, if not for Hope County, then for my brother, mother, and unborn sister, I’ll fuck ‘em up, I’ll fuck ‘em up real good. Those fuckers’ll regret takin’ Hope County over, I fuckin’ swear...” he finished, going deeper into the forest behind the house.

 Staci turned around, jumping when he saw Sharky, “What the fuck, man? How long were you there?” He breathed

 “Since around the beginning...”

 “Hm... well in any case, if I were you, I’d go back inside, he’ll be pissed if he comes back and finds you were eavesdropping... plus you and I should eat...”

 Sharky looked back at the house, he sighed, “Okay, I guess we can go eat...”

 “Good, because I’m fucking starving...”


	17. Chapter 17

While they were sitting at the kitchen table eating, Sharky started talking, “So... What was goin’ on out there..?”

  Staci took a drink of his water, “You don’t know when to quit, do ya’?”

 “Being loud and nosey runs in the family... haven’t you ever met Hurk?”

 “Yeah, he’s annoying as well... no offense to him, but he never stops talking...”

 “True...” he thought for a moment, trying to remember his original question, he looked Staci in the eye when he remembered and continued, “What was he doing?”

 “Jesus Christ...” he muttered, pushing the hair out of his eyes, “Just catching me up on everything that happened after I left...”

 “You left?”

 “Yeah, a few years back some stuff happened and I had to leave...”

 “Oh, what happened?”

 Staci narrowed his eyes, “None of your business...”

 Sharky pursed his lips, putting his elbows on the table, folding his hands together, and placing his head on top of his hands.

 Staci shoved some more pancake in his mouth, watching as Dusty entered through the back, Peaches stalking close behind, they were both covered in blood. Sharky turned to face them, “Yo... what the fuck happened?”

 Dusty pulled his hand up and wiped away some fresh blood under his eye, “Peaches spotted one of the judges that was still on the prowl... so we took care of that little... problem...”

 “Oh, well shit, what type?”

 “Moose.” He replied, placing his knife in the sink and took his shirt off, moving past them into the hall, then the laundry room.

 “Jesus... Jacob and John really fucked him up...” Staci breathed.

 “Yeah... but at least they’re dead now, and unable to hurt anyone else...” Sharky stated.

 Dusty came back out with their clothes and handed them to their owners, “Last chance to get a shower for you two,” he stated as he went back in to Joey.

 Sharky stood with his clothes, going into the bathroom and taking Dusty up on his offer, if that’s even what you’d call it.

~~~~~

 As they left, he heard Dusty telling Joey that she could stay at his house or go back to Fall’s End but if she went back she needed to leave a note, then told her where everything was and where her room was before going to the car. Dusty drove, Sharky was riding shotgun, and Staci and Peaches were sitting in the back. 

~~~~~

 After dropping Staci back off at the Wolf’s Den, they got back on the road, making their way back to Sharky’s trailer park. It was quiet... too quiet for Sharky.

 “So... uh... who were those people in the photos lining the walls?” Sharky asked, because he can’t keep his trap shut.

 The truck slowed for a moment, before speeding back up, he sighed before answering, “My... my family...”

 Sharky made a thoughtful noise, staying quiet for about five seconds before continuing, “Why was Pratt in one of the photos?”

 “My brother and he were good friends...”

 “Your brother?” Sharky asked, surprised.

 Dusty nodded, “He died several years ago, a few years before my mom...”

 “Did Joey know him?”

 “Mhm, they were actually dating at the time of his death.”

 “If I can ask, how did he die?”

 “It’s may, and..” he quieted for a moment, before continuing, “he... well he went spelunking... he was always so adventurous... but, he was in the main part of the cave, one of his other friends was fucking around and accidentally pushed him off the ledge into a pit of stalagmites... they impaled him in various places, but in the end, he died due to them impaling several of his major organs... I was with him when it happened, watched it even, his friend genuinely didn’t mean it, and ended up killing himself due to the guilt a few years later.”

 “Oh... that’s horrible... what about your mom?”

 “Killed herself, she was pregnant with my little sister, Cheyenne as well, only in the second trimester, so there was no chance she was gonna live...”

 “...And you killed your dad...”

 “Yep, he never liked us, hated the Irish, it was quite disappointing.. the fate he met, that is...”

 “You’re Irish?”

 “Yeah, mom was Irish, and my biological father was actually Scottish.”

 “Wow, I never knew...”

 “Ha... not even Staci does... kind of a family secret, but since you’re my family now, I thought I should share some... plus, you can never escape your past, no matter how hard you may try, it’ll always come back for ya’...”


	18. Chapter 18

  _Family...._ Sharky thought about it,  _Not fuck-buddy, not just a friend, but FAMILY..._

~~~~~

 Sharky got out of the car first upon arrival, Dusty and Peaches lingering in the car for a few minutes. When Dusty came in, he threw his keys onto the table, kicking off his shoes, making his way over to the couch, and dropping himself on it. The couch screeched in protest, but Dusty didn’t care.

 “So, what do ya’ wanna do?” Sharky asked, cracking open a beer and slurping the foam off the rim.

 Dusty dismissively waved his hand right hand, his left hanging off the side of the couch, hanging over Peaches’ head. He set his forearm over his eyes, sighing lightly. His body was taking up the whole couch, so Sharky came over and sat on his stomach, causing Dusty to reply with a grunt.

 “What do ya wanna do?” Sharky asked a second time.

 “I don’t care, whatever you want to do is fine...” 

 Sharky huffed, drinking some of his beer, “We could listen to some badass music and burn angels, or maybe just chill, drink beer, and talk? Maybe even something else, preferably the first one or another option not listed...”

 Dusty smirked a little, peeking at his partner from under his arm. He pulled his right arm over, softly trailing his fingers up Sharky’s thigh. “Could we maybe take a shower..? Together... to save water...” he asked slyly.

 Sharky choked on his drink, coughing before catching his breath, “Wh- at?”

 “If you didn’t hear me,” he pulls his hand away, “I guess I can go do it myself...”

 “N-no! We can take a shower together! I just didn’t know if I heard you correctly, y’know? Didn’t wanna assume, bet you’ve heard the saying, ‘Assuming makes an ass outta you and me’, and I fuckin’ live my like by that quote, whether being an ass ‘cuz I wanna be, or tryna not be one because I’m sober.” He spit out, tripping over words and drifting off somewhere, confused on how he got there.

 Dusty laughed heartily, wiping tears from his eyes before turning his attention back to Sharky, “Well, do you wanna take me up on that offer..?”

 “Hell to the yes!” Sharky exclaimed, jumping to his feet and practically throwing his drink on the table in his kitchen in passing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the short chapter, mine and my mother’s birthday was today, so I didn’t have much time to write.


	19. Chapter 19

 After getting the dirt and blood washed off, they made their way to the bedroom, Dusty having his legs wrapped around Sharky’s waist as he carried him into the room, bumping into several objects that probably didn’t matter on the way. Sharky lied Dusty on the bed, crawling on top of him and staring down at him. His lips were red and swollen, chest rising and falling in time with the soft panting, his blue eye staring right back at Sharky.

 “Shit, you look good like this, dude...” Sharky breathed.

 “Well maybe we should do this more often, bro.” Dusty stated, slight sarcasm in the word ‘bro’.

 Sharky ducked down, licking and nipping at Dusty’s neck, “I’d be down with that...”

 Dusty tilted his head, allowing Sharky more access, “Of co- ah- course you would...” 

 Sharky found Dusty’s soft spot, biting down on it harshly and drawing blood before licking and kissing it. Dusty was underneath him panting and grinding up against him.

 They both groaned at the contact, “How long are you takin’ a break for?” Sharky asked after a moment.

 “T-this week, I’m planning on working Faith do-down next week...” he choked out.

 “So we can do whatever we want this week?” Dusty nodded, “FUCK YES!” Sharky shouted, pumping his fist in the air in excitement.

 Dusty laughed, wrapping his arms around his partner’s neck and pulling him down into a sloppy kiss, “Why? Do you have something planned?” He asked after he caught his breath.

 “Not really, just happy we can take a brak together.” He said, moving so he could grab something under his bed. “How do ya’ want it?” He asked, lubing his fingers up and pushing one in, meeting no resistance, he pushed in another.

 “Fuck, I-I don’t care, whatever y-you’re up for I guess...” he said.

 Sharky leaned down, peppering kisses over his lover’s chest, “Rough it is...” he said, now scissoring Dusty’s hole and licking the head of his dick.

 “Jesus, Shark...” Dusty breathed.

 Sharky hummed, taking Dusty into his mouth and adding another finger. When he felt Dusty was ready, he pulled away, chuckling at the whine Dusty emitted.

 Sharky lubed up his cock, positioning it at the entrance, “You ready?” He asked.

 Dusty nodded, “Go slow at first, please...” 

 Sharky put his hand on Dusty’s cheek, caressing it reassuringly as he pushed in slowly, as by Dusty’s request.

 Dusty let out a shuddering breath, gripping the bed sheets tightly as Sharky bottomed out, “You sure you wanna do this?” Sharky asked softly.

 Dusty nodded, “Yeah, I just haven’t done this in a while...” he stated, technically not lying, it had been a while since John and Jacob’s deaths, and Joseph hadn’t come around since Jacob. “Just start moving, it’ll make it better...”

 Sharky did as told, setting a slow pace, gradually getting faster. He grabbed the twenty-one year old’s left leg and set it over his shoulder. When Dusty shouted, he aspired to keep hitting there, and as he had assumed, finding out that was his prostate, when he had aimed himself properly, he started ramming into the younger man, the bed screeched in protest, but that didn’t matter, not now.

 He knew he was getting close, and he assumed Dusty was too, so he wrapped his hand around Dusty’s cock, pumping it in time with his thrusts. Soon, Dusty was cumming on his stomach, the heat and pulsing inside of him causing Sharky to do the same, burying his seed deep inside the junior deputy. 

 The only noises in the room now being Sharky’s panting, and Dusty’s sobbing. Sharky pulled out and lied down next to Dusty, intertwining their fingers, “You good?” He asked quietly.

 Dusty sniffled, “Y-Yeah, never been better,” he said with a reassuring smile. 

 Sleep came easily to them, but in days to come, there was no telling...


	20. Chapter 20

 As you would expect, they spent the rest of the week in the bedroom.

~~~~~~~~~~

 Sharky woke up to the sound coming through the radio, Dusty left the past day, and apparently he had already landed himself back in the infirmary. Blissed out, but the fucker had just left! Sharky sighed and got up, throwing his sweatshirt on before heading out. 

~~~~~~~~~

 He listened to Alkaline Trio on his way over, pulling into the parking lot singing "I can't believe". Matt Skiba was fucking amazing... at singing, I mean, he's in two goddamn bands! Now that has to be talent, right? Anyways, he walked into the infirmary.

 "I can, fucking believe you trust him! She messes with your mind, she gets inside and makes you do terrible things... I-" Tracy growled, pushing past Sharky when they passed.

 "I'll go check on her.." Virgil said before scampering out.

 Earl sighed, looking down at the man sinking onto the bed and the other one that was being consumed by sleep.

 "The fuck happened?" Sharky asked.

 "Rook braved the Bliss and pulled him out.." he stated, pointing at Cameron.

 "Oh, you mean Faith's bitch? He's in almost all her campaigns on t.v..."

 Earl gave him an incredulous look before looking at the two on the bed again, "I'm sure these two won't be up for a while, but you're welcome to stay, if you want..." he breathed before leaving.

~~~~~~~~~

 Sure enough, three hours later, Dusty got up, grabbing his equipment and heading to the door, Sharky following him. "My dude, what the fuck do you think you're doing?"

 "I need to finish this.."

 "What if it kills you?"

 Dusty stopped for a moment, head drooping, "Then I guess it kills me, huh?"

 Sharky stared at him as he threw his stuff in the back of the truck he was brought here in, in shock by what he had heard. Dusty looked up at him before driving off, "Nothing death could bring could hurt me more than what these fuckers have done, and John was right, I am Wrath," he said with a chuckle, "I'm putting that bitch in the grave, go home and stay safe." he said before stepping into the car.


	21. Chapter 21

 Sharky had been staying with Hurk for around two weeks before all hell broke loose on the radios.

  _"Deputy, I.. I don't know where the fuck you are, but you need to get back to the jailhouse, the Peggie's came and took the Sheriff, they killed our men-...fuck... just hurry up and get your ass over here!-"_ they heard Tracy yelling over the radio. 

 There was mainly only Peggie chatter after that before they heard the Sheriff, _"Ah, fuck, I'm sorry, Rook, but I need to get out of here, the Bliss is dissipating, but it's still fucking with me... destroy the boxes of Bliss and we can burn this fucker to the ground."_

Sharky would be nervous now if wasn't as drunk as he was, "Hear that 'cuz? Faith haasss to be dead." Sharky slurred, dragging out the has.

 "Yeah, she shouldn't've trusted Joseph..." Hurk stated, seemingly not drunk, though he was. 

 They went on talking about random things, really random things, like how breast milk tastes, _'is it any different from cow milk'_ , they wondered. 

~~~~~~

 Joseph was not to happy about his family all being dead, the last video he put out after Faith's death playing on repeat. Even though Sharky had a hangover, he went to the jailhouse to see if anyone had seen the junior deputy. Sadly, no one had seen him since he dropped Whitehorse off the evening prior, but he had said he was going back to his house in the valley. Sharky got back in his car and made his way to Dusty's home.

 He walked in the door only to be greeted by Joey, "Hey, what are you doing here?" she asked from the top of the steps.

 "Oh, I was just tryna find Dusty..." he said.

 "Hm, well he's outside in the back somewhere, said he was going to go fishing or something..." she said, crossing her legs and resting her head on the wall.

 "Okay, thank ya', Deputy." he said as he walked through the house going out through the back door.

 He went through the woods, eventually finding the Henbane, following the river downstream, he saw Dusty, sleeping on a large rock bulging out of the sand, his fishing rod set up beside him. Stepping closer, he saw he was holding Jacob's knife close to his chest, his usual flannel under his head. There was blood dripping off the knife and his arm which was hanging loosely off the side of the rock. Sharky stood there in shock for a moment before going over to look at his arm, confirming what he saw a while ago, the word _**'Sinner'** _was carved in his arm numerous times and in different places on both arms. He sighed and sat beside the rock, disappointed he didn't notice sooner. He fell asleep, the pain in his head going down.


	22. Chapter 22

 He woke up about an hour later, Dusty was sitting beside him, now wearing his flannel and sharpening Jacob's knife. The bags under his eyes and emptiness behind them now clear to Sharky. "Good afternoon," Dusty said.

 "Uh, good afternoon..?" Sharky replied, slightly unsure of himself. He wanted to talk about what he had seen earlier, but he didn't know how to approach the subject. "So..." he started, hoping the words would come naturally... but sadly, they didn't.

 Dusty sighed and turned to face him, eyes filled with tears and on the verge of crying "Look, I know what you're gonna say, and I'd just like to say I'm sorry, okay? I'm sorry for leaving you alone all the time, I'm sorry for being such a dick all the time, I'm sorry for cutting myself.." he started crying as he continued, words now broken, "I just wanted to help, I killed so many people, I've done so many bad things, I just needed to feel like I had atoned, all I've done is let my wrath and pride get in the way of what's truly important to me... you... and I..." he looked away, "I let them do things to me... John said he would ease up on what he did to Fall's End and Joey, Joseph said he'd make sure his siblings only did what was necessary, Jacob didn't have consent, and Faith just talked down to me. I should've told you earlier, I shouldn't've lied to you, I just couldn't handle knowing you hated me. I love you, and all my friends here, and I didn't want to let you down. I just wanted all of you to be safe, that's all, I swear to fucking God." he finished, breathing uneven and going in and out in short and heavy bursts.

 Sharky wrapped his arms around him, pulling him close, and softly petting his hair. "You could've told me," he started once Dusty's breathing evened out, "I forgive you, and thank you for coming clean... Now, we can work together to right this last wrong. What do ya' say?"

 Dusty looked up at him, hair disheveled, eyes pink and puffy, and face flushed. He smiled slightly, "I'd love to," he said, before pulling Sharky down into a gentle kiss.


	23. Chapter 23

 The next day, Dusty and Sharky made their way to the compound, they were walking and Dusty was a few yards ahead of Sharky, when he started to feel woozy, the bliss took him, vision fading as he fell to the ground.

~~~~

 He was aware that he was shooting at Dusty, but he couldn’t control himself, it was as though he were a prisoner within his own body. He couldn’t exactly remember what happened, but next thing he knew, Dusty was helping him up and they were finishing off Joseph. 


	24. Good Ending

 Joseph stared at the ground as the Sheriff cuffed him and started dragging him away. Dusty was panting and leaning on the church.

 “You alright?” Sharky asked, placing a hand on Dusty’s shoulder.

 Dusty smiled and looked at him, “Never been better...” he stated before pulling him into a hug.

 Sharky was happy to replicate the action.

~~~~

 They spent the next couple years setting stuff on fire and spending time with Hurk. Sharky even taught Blade how to use a flamethrower on his seventh birthday.

 From all the ends they thought they would have, ranging from being killed by one of the Judges or being driven to suicide, this was never something they thought would happen, though they wouldn’t change it for the world.


	25. Bad Ending

 Joseph laughed as he was cuffed by the Sheriff, “You really thought you’d be able to commit all these sins and not be punished, Deputy? Ha... you were wrong, God’s wrath is a million times worse than anything my brothers, sister, or children have done to you...” he said with a smile.

 “What the fuck do you mean..?” Staci asked, only to have the question answered a few seconds after.

 A shot rang through the air, one Peggie had survived and shot Dusty in the back with a shotgun. Dusty dropped to his knees, putting his hand on his chest only to pull it back and be covered in blood. He pointed a finger at Joseph, blood dripping from his mouth, and the Peggie dropping dead to the ground after being shot in the head by Mary. “You motherfucking asshole...” he whispered, falling to the ground. Sharky dropped to his knees beside him, scooping him up into his lap as he tried his best to avoid the wounds. “Never thought it would end this way...” Dusty said after a few seconds.

 “I-it isn’t gonna, the team is scouring the compound for medkits, we’ll fix ya’ up and you’ll be as good as new..” Sharky said, a few tears breaking free and dripping down his cheeks. 

 Dusty put his hand on Sharky’s cheek, “It’s okay...” he said, wiping tears from his face, blood only on his palm, “you’re gonna be alright.” 

 “No, I’m not, not without you, you, you... you mean the world to me, and I dunno if I can live without ya’... I fucking...-“ 

 Dusty cut him off, pulling his head down and kissing him, he grabbed the hand wrapped around his waist and interlaced their fingers, chuckling slightly, “I did my part, I’m no longer needed here... but may I ask you one thing..?” He asked with a smile.

 Sharky nodded, now sobbing.

 “Please don’t forget me, though I might be physically gone, I’m always gonna be alive in here...” he whispered, softly tapping over Sharky’s heart with their hands. 

 “I-I won’t... I can’t!” He exclaimed, voice breaking.

 “Then, just remember, I love you...” Dusty said, smile fading and body going limp and slowly getting colder.

~~~~

 Hurk helped him through it, and the fact that Nick ended up shooting him made it slightly easier, seeing that his death was one of his last goals.

 He ended up spending most of his time babysitting Blade after he was born, and before then spending most of his time drinking. Though it was rough without Dusty, it was still tolerable. He might’ve entertained the thought of ending his own life, but he could never follow through with it. And when he finally did get to the pearly white gates, he was once again reunited with the one who he had loved, and that was all that mattered to him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading this, I hope you liked it, if you have any suggestions for oneshots or short stories for this fandom, leave a comment and I’ll try an get it done as soon as possible.


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